-8-

The Bad Men.

Hefting the backpack she had managed to get hold of by chance which carried some food and a bottle of water after she'd broken into a shop early in the morning, Eleven puffed as she went on her way.

She had spent an entire day exploring Hawkins, taking care not to be seen nor heard. She had visited a few of the shops, but otherwise, she had just been looking for any signs of the Bad Men; with how close the Lab was to the town, and she guessed some of the lab workers lived in the town, it was just logical they would look there first for her after she'd escaped after surviving the massacre.

She hadn't seen any sign of them, and she had done her best to keep as low a profile as she could, but nobody had tried to catch her or kill her. At the same time, Eleven had a grand time just watching everyone go about their business, it amazed her that nobody knew about what was going on in the lab.

But after a while, she did not care.

After she had found a way of leaving the town, Eleven had decided to wait until nightfall before she left.

Despite the dangers, Eleven had no alternative but to walk alongside the road leading out of Hawkins, and she walked slowly. It had been several hours since she had left the town completely, and the best thing was it was night, and it was quite dark. Eleven's eyes scanned the tree lines, looking for somewhere where she could rest, and enter the void so she could find Kali. But she decided to hold back the temptation and go on until night, but she wasn't sure how long she could keep walking.

Privately, Eleven enjoyed the exercise. Granted, she didn't like the smells of the traffic going past, but Eleven decided to ignore it.

Every time she heard a car engine approaching, Eleven would duck and hide behind a tree, or off the road and would not move until she was sure it was safe for her to come out.

She was not going to take the risk.

Eleven glanced over her shoulder as she trudged quietly and tiredly. She couldn't see any headlights coming, and she glanced in the opposite direction, so she decided to continue on her way. With a bit of luck, she would reach the next town, and then hopefully be further out of Brenner's reach.

But Eleven knew better than to underestimate Brenner; he wasn't stupid, she knew he would guess she would be heading for the next town. She only wished there was a faster way; more than once, Eleven had spotted a large car thing with lots of people on it, and guessed people used them to get through Hawkins to other towns, her knowledge from the doctors and orderlies at the lab told her it was called a bus Eleven knew they would shorten the distance, but she wasn't sure how to use them without raising suspicion. And she didn't have any money since she didn't want to get the police looking for her anymore.

So she kept walking.

Eleven kept walking until dawn. By that time she genuinely did not know how far she had travelled, but she found herself outside a small metal house. Eleven recognised one word.

Diner.

Food.

Her stomach rumbled, and she walked around the back and used her powers to open the backdoor, knowing another alarm could go off. But nothing happened. Walking in slowly, she went through the place and took some food. At the same time, she found a small office with worn slips of light green paper. She examined a few of them, counting them for a second before she pocketed some of them. The first chance she took, she would put herself into the void, look for Kali, and grab a bus before she let it take her all the way.

Eleven ate sparingly before she made her way to the office again. Slipping out her blindfold, she quickly tied it around her head and focused on Kali while having the radio on as quietly as she dared.

It took her a few minutes to find her sister, but when she did, Eleven decided to speak to her now. But before she could muster the effort, she heard a noise in the real world. Quickly she snapped out of her trance, looked around and listened, and she heard the sounds again. There were people here.

Quickly she stood up, shut off the radio, and sneaked out and headed for the bus stop she had seen outside.

"That's her!"

Eleven swung around, surprised and she yelped in shock as a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around her chest and lifted her off the ground; out of the corner of her eyes, she spotted a small group of agents surrounding her, guns out.

"Don't choke her, you idiot!" One of them spat as they surrounded her. "Bring her down, and be careful; we need to get the collar on her."

Eleven's eyes widened in horror. She knew once the collar was on her neck, she would be electrocuted each time she tried to use her powers. But the agent holding her was holding her so tightly she could barely breathe, but she had to resist. She had to escape.

She twisted her neck and stared at the agent in the eye, and she quickly ripped into his mind. Memories of his childhood and life flashed through her mind's eye, and he dropped her with a scream of pain. Eleven barely had a chance to get her breath back, before she used her powers to rip through the minds of the other agents.

Quickly she went through all of their minds, gathering all of their knowledge. Once she was done, Eleven let them collapse to the ground before she snapped their necks. If she let them go, they would just come back, and that was the last thing she wanted. But just before she was about to leave, she stopped and looked contemplatively as she glanced at the cars. When she had killed those people at the lab, taking their knowledge and memories, she had also taken their knowledge about driving, what to do, what not to do… but she had ignored it, but now she was passing the cars here, Eleven was left in thought.

A crazy idea had just entered her mind; she knew where Kali was, and she had the knowledge of driving from all of the agents, and even if she lacked the actual first-hand experience, Eleven was sure she could drive the car, after learning everything from them.

She smiled, going through the knowledge of driving after taking it from the agents, and then her smile disappeared when she realised something important; the agents' cars were registered at the lab, and when they were found parked somewhere, the police would have little trouble reporting them where they were.

After a moment, she didn't think it was a problem. Kali had managed to escape Brenner ages ago, and if he had known where she was, he would have captured or killed her by now.

Sure, it was dangerous, but even if she got halfway away from here, then so be it.

Going to one of the cars, Eleven found the keys in the ignition. After making herself comfortable and making sure she could reach the pedals with her feet and see out, Eleven drew upon the agents' knowledge of their cars and started the engine. As she slowly and cautiously left the diner, gaining more confidence, Eleven drove out.